Crochet Project: Temperature Rugs

On the last day of 2015, a post came up on my Facebook feed about crocheted temperature rugs. The idea is that you crochet one row of a rug per day, using a colour chart linked to the temperature of that day. Intrigued, I did a bit of reading, but discounted the idea. The idea however, was still rolling around in the back of my head, leading to a brainwave one day of making each of my kids a single bed size rug, using temperature data for the first year of each of their lives. Of course, the colour schemes would have to match their favourite colours too.

My Sewing Studio: A Tour

I've been wanting to do a post for a while an indeterminate number of years about my sewing space, but have always been put off by how cluttered, messy and generally untidy it looks. When is a good time to do this post? Truthfully? If I want it to look tidy, probably never.

I have a tendency to jump right into the next project as soon as I have finished something, and not pack away patterns, scissors, pins, scraps etc. I am also prone to rummaging through my stash and putting aside fabric that I want to make up next, and leave it on the edge of my cutting table. Indefinitely.

When I have a large scale projecct like curtains to do, I am forced to do a bit of a clean up, as I need all the space I could get to manoeuvre multiple metres of fabric around without knocking everything off every available surface. Organising my studio was also helped enormously by putting in my pigeon holes and store room fabric storage.

Here's a panoramic shot of my studio that I took a few years ago - MESSY!

I decided to do a whirlwind cleanup and take photos as part of my January hosting of the Stashbusting Sewalong. What better way to get organised than to clean up your sewing space. When I walk into my studio now I feel inspired to use up all that space and SEW SOMETHING!

Stashbusting Sewalong 2017: January theme - Sewing Organisation

I know I'm a bit behind in blogging my 2016 makes. OK, make that a LOT behind, but 2017 is a new year, and to kick off January, I am hosting the Stashbusting Sewalong, with the theme of "Sewing Organisation." I'm determined to get myself organised for this year, and I hope that some of the links I have later in this post can help you to get organised too. If you want to find out more about the Stashbusting Sewalong, be sure to join our Facebook Group where all the action happens.

With the end of year craziness that inevitably happens each and every year, it's great to take some time out at the start of a new year, and think about your sewing plans. I like to give my sewing studio a bit of a clean up, and take stock of what I would like to sew in the coming year. Having gotten myself a non sewing related job near the end of last year, my sewing time evaporated overnight. This has made it even more important to get organised to make time to fit any sewing in at all, but more about that later in the post.

Seasonal Sew Wardrobe: Destination

The Sew Alongs and Sewing Contests Facebook group hosts regular Seasonal Sew Wardrobe challenges, and a new challenge started mid August, on the theme of  "Destinations."

I have been looking ahead recently, and realised that there is a gap in my wardrobe for dressy sort of clothes that could also be worn in an office environment.

Lingerie: A cloned bra for my mother

I have been wanting to make a custom fit bra for my mother for ages. I don't get to see her that often though, and when either she is visiting me, or I'm visiting her, by the time I think of it, there isn't enough time left to get it done.

Mother Daughter tops

When my daughter found out that I was making matching mother and son shirts, her first question was, where was hers? I could have predicted this response, and thankfully, I had an answer to her question.

A Purple Dress: Stashbusting Sewalong July 2016

I promise that I finished making this dress in July, as part of the Stashbusting Sewalong July theme of, you guessed it - Dresses! Although I scraped in finishing this dress on the last day of July, it took me a while to get some photos that didn't look washed out, and even longer to write this post.

Mother Son T-Shirt Refashions

I've had a couple of souvenir T-Shirts from my honeymoon sitting in the refashion pile for quite some time. Although they're 12 years old, they haven't been used, so they were still in great condition.

My son has been asking for a new sleeveless sports top for a while, and when I came across these again, I thought it was a perfect match. I took an existing top of his, and traced it out to make the pattern. Before cutting it out, I graded the pattern up a few sizes for him, hoping that it will last for a while.

Swimming Bags: Stashbusting Sewalong June 2016

Every week when I walk my daughter to her swimming lessons, I vow to make new swimming bags for both my kids. They have been using the same bags for about 3 years, and they are quite literally falling apart. I finally drew up a design late last year, and in the previous school holidays in April I finally made the pattern for new bags, cut the first one out, and didn't get any further.

Leather Moto Jacket

The Stahsbusting Theme for this month is actually Unselfish Sewing, but for some reason I thought the start of winter was the perfect time to start the least unSELFISH sewing that I could think of. Last August when I was cleaning up my store room, I rediscovered my stash of leather offcuts, and mentally allocated it to make another moto jacket. After making lingerie for all of May, when the cold weather hit, it was time to start this jacket.

Me Made May 2016 Roundup

Me Made May 2016 is an annual institution amongst home sewists, with Zoe of So Zo What Do You Know at the helm. This was my second year participating, but my pledge was the same as last year, to wear at least two me made items each day for the month of May.

Each day I wore a me made bra, and sometimes me made undies as well. That left a minimum of one me made item to wear each day. Links to all me-mades except underwear are in the round up below.

Lingerie: Sky blue and white lace bra and undies

In closing this year's Stashbusting Sewalong lingerie month, here is my last lingerie make of the month, a new bra and undies set. After finishing my last lot of underwear, I was really keen to have a matching bra out of the same fabric, and starting plotting straight away how I would achieve that.

Lingerie: white silk half slips and lace top

One of the things on my to-sew list, is a wrap drape top that I'm planning on making in a semi-sheer fabric that my husband bought in Vietnam a few years ago. I haven't used much of the fabric that he bought for me, it feels too special to use for just anything. Another issue, is the see through factor. It's not the sort of thing that I really want to line. That would make it bulkier, and hotter to wear in summer, which would probably mean that anything I made from these wouldn't get much wear.

Lingerie: Review of free patterns and self drafted underwear

Since I'm hosting lingerie for the Stashbusting Sewalong this month, I've been on a mission to try out some free patterns to share with my fellow stashbusters. I made a decision last year that I would not buy any more underwear, so I'm in need of some more me-made undies. I have a self-drafted pattern that I based on my RTW undies, but have been looking to improve on it. I mentioned at the start of May that I had found a tutorial for drafting your own underwear pattern in a Facebook group, so took this as an opportunity to start from scratch.

Lingerie: The Maya Bra

The second new bra that I'm showing you this month is the Maya bra by Ana Filimon.

This bra pattern literally stormed the internet last year (well, if you're part of any lingerie sewing groups on Facebook, or read lots of sewing blogs it certainly felt like it did!) I love the beautiful curved upper cup on the pattern, and thought it would be interesting to see how a pattern not drafted to my measurements would fit.

Dyeing Lingerie components

Are you sewing along with the theme this month for the Stashbusting Sewalong? It's all about lingerie this month. If you want to see what others are sewing, you can join our Facebook Group.

Cream and white Lace Bra, drafted from Foundations Revealed

I can't believe that it's been six months since I last made an underwired bra! Ever since I finished making my last wired bra I have been wanting to try out the pattern drafting instructions from Foundations Revealed. Their basic instructions for drafting a darted bra are free, spread over two articles. They have further tutorials for variations that you can make to this pattern and other styles, available if you sign up to their membership, which involves a monthly fee.

Stashbusting Sewalong - May is Lingerie Month

It's that time of the year again, I get to talk about sewing lingerie all month. I'm your host for the stashbusting sewalong this month, so let's get to it.

Knitting Adventures - Red Lauriel

This cardigan, the Lauriel by Ysolda, is the reason that I started knitting again. When I first saw Tasia of Sewaholic's version of this cardigan I fell in love with it instantly. Her review however did not instil me with the confidence needed to tackle it straight away, at the time not having picked up a knitting needle in like, 20 years or so. Tasia's opening line, and I quote: "This is quite possibly the most beautiful and complicated thing I've knit so far", gave me second thoughts.

Me Made May 2016

So, I'm doing it again this year. What am I doing? Me Made May.